The One Time I Pined for a Dashcam

What a week I'd like to forget, for the most part. Monday I did nothing but Tuesday was different. I went to another town to have my vehicle serviced; that went as expected and I kept myself occupied while waiting for it to be completed. I stopped at a nearby Walmart before coming home. Wednesday... oh, what a day that was. Me and someone went to the local Longhorn Steakhouse as we hadn't been there in a long time and never had any major problems there... things changed. The service wasn't great and no kidding, the place did not have enough ribs available to eat during the dinner rush! As the person I was with ordered ribs... you can imagine what their reaction was. Neither of us had a positive opinion of this experience. Then again, what happened as we were driving there on a rural two lane road shocked the both of us and in a rare occasion, even I was taken aback by what I witnessed. In a recent realization, investing in a dashcam years ago wouldn't have been a bad idea, as I'd have proof of the craziest events I have described here... and I know some of them sound too preposterous to believe, including what I'm about to tell you now.

There was a Jeep Wrangler in front of us and he was obviously impaired, weaving in and out of the lane. If I wouldn't have been with that other person, 911 would have been called... especially after he stomped on the brakes for no reason, resulting in one honk of the horn, which caused him to OPEN THE DOOR WHILE STILL DRIVING, TURN AROUND AND START YELLING AT ME! See what I mean about wanting video footage of such insanity? I did back off (not that I ever tailgated this jackass) and he almost head-on crashed into oncoming traffic before coming into what little senses he had. Seconds later, he pulled off to the side of the road, probably thinking I would pull off too and get into a brawl with him. Instead, I just drove on and I don't know what happened to him as the Jeep was never seen again and I did look in my rearview mirror plenty of times the rest of the drive... as well I should when a sociopath gets so mad from one horn honk that he would react this way. Was it meth? Alcohol? Other drugs? I dunno but hopefully this guy is never seen again with my eyes. Worst of all, he had a woman AND a small child in the Jeep too!

Wednesday and Thursday I did not do much of note (at least not worthy enough to discuss here) but Friday was another rotten day. Yeah, it was too many little things rolled together. I was gonna go see Once Upon a Time in Hollywood but traffic was terrible due to there being rain (and yes, people still don't know how to drive when there's just a little bit of water on the ground) and while not seeing it myself, the backup on the highway had to be due to at least one person getting in a wreck. I was unhappy over the whole situation so I just decided to wait until the upcoming week to see the movie, where I'd be in a better mood. Sadly, even more trouble arose after I honked my horn at people for awful driving on their part... it was minor compared to that Jeep idiot so it's not worth discussing here. I did make a purchase at a Barnes & Noble but even then that had an issue, as the dude who checked me out was both an idiot and an A-hole, so that was a negative experience. It will be a long while before I buy anything at the B&N in Altamonte Springs again.

Friday did have me eating at a Fuddruckers for the first time in years and I have no complaints there. The only highlight of the weekend was me going into town to have a Five Guys dinner, as not that long ago one of those restaurants finally opened in the city I live in. Driving back home... yes, someone got mad after I honked at them! They were going like 25 over the speed limit so a horn honk was definitely deserved. Despite all the problems this summer with that, I don't plan on changing me using my horn, as those punks need to hear it. Anyhow, a few things are planned for the upcoming week.

Stranger Things Season 3, Bolt 24, The Lion King & Apollo 11

I do not have much to say about the opening part of this past week-unless people really want to hear about me going to a home improvement store to purchase new lights for my bathroom-so I'll instead mention a few random things until I get to the first day that had any real interesting events. I finally got around to watching Season 3 of Stranger Things; I did not love the first two seasons like most did but it was still enjoyable so I was hoping for more of the same here. To unleash yet another unpopular opinion, I hated Season 3! It had some cool moments but overall it was hardly any fun as I did not care for the main story, any of the side stories, all the commercialization, and wow did they ever ruin one of the main characters... I hated them rather quickly and I started to groan whenever they appeared. I am glad most love the new season-if only I could have felt the same way.

Via Amazon as a deal offered a few days before Prime Day, I purchased Bolt 24, which is a new drink from Gatorade that is like that BODYARMOR drink that's been out for a few days now. It was a 12 pack of three different flavors and all of them taste good. Now, onto Thursday. I went to the Melbourne area as I hadn't been there in ages and I went to a few places there, including a restaurant known as Pizza Gallery & Grill. The service could have been better and I don't want to be mean to the random middle-aged intoxicated woman sitting by me (but yikes were they LOUD) yet at least the pizza was good and the art on the walls was nice. Because an AMC was in the area and I have the A-List app that allows me to see a bunch of films if I wanted to, I checked out The Lion King remake.

Now, this was the first of those pointless Disney remakes that I've seen; I know they all make an obscene amount of money so they'll keep on doing that for a long while but what I've heard from film fans (who admittedly can be rather snobby sometimes... or often) they are lazy and total retreads. Yet I saw the original theatrically-and again in 2017-& the visuals got high marks so this is why I viewed this on a giant screen in 3D. It did look and sound real nice, but overall the original movie did things way better and the remake wasn't too good at all.

Friday and Sunday I have no activities to talk about, except that I did watch some programs about the Apollo 11 mission, with the big anniversary at all. Shoutout to the apparent 400,000 people (!) said to be responsible for that mission being a success. Saturday was at least different. I went to a Barnes & Noble but did not buy anything there. I then returned to what is now known as Icon Park and I ate at Tin Roof, sort of. That place (I don't know if the roof is rusted) has been around for a few years and just recently took over the adjacent lot after the restaurant that was there went kaput; they call it Green Room... I have no idea why, as nothing about it is green. Plus, that is the name of an independent thriller from a few years ago where the titular place was a rural club for a Neo-Nazi gang! Again, the good food did make up for lackluster service.

There are plans for the upcoming week... it's just determining on what days I will do those things.

Mountain Dew Cyclone, Crawl, T-Rex Cafe & Amazon Deliveries

In the preceding week, I stopped at a Speedway gas station to try a unique Mountain Dew flavor they have, Cyclone. It is classified as "fruit punch" and I heard it described as tasting like passion fruit and pomegranate, which is accurate. This past Monday I did actually do something: escorting someone to Universal Studios CityWalk as they say they had been there only once and that was like a dozen years ago. Many things were different for them between visits; they wanted to do this as in the future they'll take a friend from out of state there. They chose to ate at the NBC Sports Grill & Brew... which I was more than happy to do as they serve good food there... which was enjoyed by all. I did nothing on Tuesday but Wednesday, I ended up at a Walmart, where things were normal (at least by Walmart standards) and there are no angry or wacky stories to tell of that trip.

Thursday, I ended up at Disney Springs, where I visited some stores, had dinner at the T-Rex Cafe then saw a movie. T-Rex is a place I've eaten at a few times before and even if you discount the tremendous theme that the place has (no surprise considering it's from the same corporation that gives us the Rainforest Cafe) the food is pretty good, albeit priced like everything else at Walt Disney World. After that I viewed Crawl, as I heard strong positive remarks about it. Down here in Florida there was derision over how a movie set in The Sunshine State has a house featuring a basement-those are rarely found down here due to the elevation and sandy soil-but I discovered there were even dumber moments with that movie when it comes to logic. All that said, it was actually rather enjoyable and if you like creature features then this is worth a shot. At least the two leads (which are usually the only characters you see on screen) do a swell job, so there are no regrets with seeing this.

Friday through Sunday were rather humdrum, with an unexpected moment. Saturday I received an Amazon delivery via the postal service, which was a little surprising as it was two items together in a box and one of them was a beverage... more on that later. The day before, a small package came via Amazon, but delivered in an unusual way. Instead of a now-ubiquitous giant Amazon van, it came via... a woman in a new Toyota Corolla? Yes, and later I looked at my e-mail and discovered a message saying the package was sent, with a photo that woman took of it on the front porch! That was a shock to me. Anyway, not much else to say about the weekend, unless people really want to hear about how I went to Firehouse Subs to pick up dinner.

It for certain was not as exciting as the weekend I had at this time last year, which was simply incredible and it will be a long time before I'll ever have a 36 hour or so span where I go see an independent wrestling show and meet up with people I hadn't seen in years (and unfortunately see someone for the last time before they unexpectedly passed away), had a bad experience at a multiplex seeing a French zombie movie... and oh yeah, I went to a comic con and met Rachael Leigh Cook! If only I was not full of anxiety for the professional photo opportunity then later the autograph I got from her.... yet I can't complain even if things did not go exactly as planned. It was great meeting the star of She's All That and when I posted that photo on Facebook, it caused quite a stir. For certain, what I have planned in the upcoming week won't come close to being as thrilling or memorable as that weekend.

Toy Story 4, Mountain Dew Sweet Lightning, Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao & GLORY 67

I will go out of order this time and discuss Wednesday before I get back to the usual chronology. Unfortunately, Wednesday was a pretty rotten day; no, nothing serious happened... it was too many bad little things that happened which made me want to forget all about it. It was not even that I had to drop off someone at the airport then a few hours later pick up someone else from the same airport... as it gave me the opportunity to kill time in the area and I finally saw Toy Story 4. Now, I never wanted there to be a 4 as the first three are very good to great and 3 ended perfectly. Still, I went in with an open mind as seemingly everyone else loves the movie so why would I feel any differently? Well... I hated it! I presume everyone else will vehemently disagree yet I can't lie here and be phony about it.

Toy Story 4 was obnoxious instead of funny, most of the characters of old were barely in it, I couldn't stand most of the new characters, and it did not even feel like a Toy Story or a Pixar movie-instead it felt like something far inferior. Let's not even get into how I felt about the ending or how it betrays the key character in the franchise. The audience seemed to think it was great, so that's something... me, I'll pretend 4 never happened. The rest of the day was full of garbage.-horrid driving on busy roads (including nearly getting sideswiped by some tool who had to be on his phone) and other things I'd rather not get into. When the highlight of the day was eating at KFC for lunch and trying out their Mountain Dew Sweet Lightning... MD with peach and honey was odd, albeit not bad. At least I had a tasty lunch while the muzak in the background was light jazz covers of such things as The Isley Brothers' Harvest for the World and Billy Joel's The Stranger-that was a pleasant surprise.

Back to being chronological: Monday the 1^st I did nothing at all... Tuesday was a different story. Not only did I get a haircut-more so than usual, it was needed-but I also ate at a Beef 'O' Brady's as my last visit was like a few years ago. The food was fine-the entertainment from two of the people there was better. They were older gentleman, both highly intoxicated. Apparently, they paid their tabs then decided for another beer, which neither really needed... especially once you hear that they both drove him separately. One guy left without paying his tab so the other talked a lot of crap about him-not that he'd remember anything he said about his “friend” the next morning. From a bartender, I overheard that the dude who skipped town usually is a slob and leaves all sorts of trash on the floor-even chicken wings!

After the Wednesday I had, staying in for Independence Day was A-OK with me. At least I watched some fireworks on TV and Friday evening I got to see figurative fireworks in Kissimmee, as I saw my first ever kickboxing event live; I haven't even seen too much of it before in general but I was hoping for a good time, and that's what I got. GLORY is a major kickboxing promotion that has events across the world and they came to Florida for the first time with their GLORY 67 event. Last month I heard about it and there was a discount for tickets so I couldn't turn that down. It still wasn't the cheapest event... I did look at it as a 12 fight event which started at 6 and ended after 11 so I did not feel ripped off. No complaints with the crowd or any sort of silly drama; one of the fighters in the main event was Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao-yes, he was from Thailand.

The weekend I stayed in: as it was rainy anyhow, this was perfect. What was bad was news I heard on Saturday... a person involved with the pro wrestling scene since he was a kid (Shannon Rose) passed away. He experienced a malady of health problems for much of his life but when he could he did various tasks in the independent wrestling scene down here, like publicity and announcing and that sort of thing. I have talked to him before, albeit a long, long time ago. That news did make me sad, for certain.

When I return next, the ratio of good to bad days hopefully will be improved.

Sonic Booms, Hawks, The Pretenders & Annabelle Comes Home

The preceding week wasn't too exciting but at least I do have a thing or two to mention that I've never brought up before. Last Monday and Tuesday were for sure interesting. Real late Monday night I heard a noise that sounded like someone trying to break in. I was puzzled and a little frightened for a few minutes; I happened to be on Twitter and saw that one of Elon Musk's rockets had launched... well, that was the source of a sonic boom, heard like 90 miles away from where the boom originated. Years ago down here I heard a louder sonic boom (which is why I did not recognize it at first), again late one night. Another odd moment was one early evening when I was outside. I suddenly looked up in the sky and saw a small bird chasing after a... hawk; really. The hawk was much larger so I have no idea what the small bird was thinking it was doing. The hawk tolerated it, only for a bit. Suddenly, it reared back and snapped at it once... immediately, the small bird dropped like it was a stone! I saw nature at work there. 

Real late Tuesday night I had to-you guess it-take someone to the airport. It was a red-eye flight but that was OK for me as on the way back I'd stop at a Denny's. I stopped at one I usually don't go to and therein lied a problem. I got there shortly after some random dude in a Jeep did. I went in and the only person I see is that random dude... there are no employees to be seen, even a cook. Was everyone out back smoking joints? I went to the men's room and once I got out I saw that no one had returned, so I left and went home. The only compliment is that the two minutes I was in the Denny's, I heard a song from The Pretenders new to me; via the SoundHound app I have on my phone (it's great identifying songs I don't know... mainly new modern music I don't give a darn about for the most part) I now know that 1986's Room Full of Mirrors is pretty cool. 

Wednesday itself I did nothing; Thursday, late at night it was... another airport run. This time it was picking up someone else from an airport; unfortunately their flight was delayed two hours so we did not even get home until 2:40 AM! At least for me I could stop somewhere and see a movie... after that I had a bite to eat at a Wawa then I drove to the airport. Some interesting characters were in the Casselberry Wawa late at night, that's for sure. The movie I saw: Annabelle Comes Home-that fit my schedule the best. Toy Story 4 is getting pushed back but I'll finally get around to it around the 4th of July. Anyhow, I've seen most of the films in that universe so I might as well check out Comes Home, right? Ed and Lorraine Warren are in it, although they only bookend the movie; that was fine, as the characters they focused on were all fine and it was enjoyable for what it was. Of course the late night crowd enjoyed such a movie and that helped, although I doubt anything will top the time I saw a midnight screening (remember those?) of the Friday the 13th remake, and it was THE PERFECT crowd as they went wild for everything and random women by me were reacting like they were about to soil themselves due to fright!

The weekend, not too much happened, except for an embarrassing moment at a Racetrac gas station I stopped at after dinner to get some beverages. One of them was a glass bottle of a Mexican apple soda called Sidral Mundet, as I was curious. Well, the drinks were put in a plastic bag, as standard... except that the bag had a hole at the bottom due to a manufacturer's defect... yes, a big mess was created. At least it wasn't my fault; then again, neither was it the clerk's fault, as I had never had that happen before and who'd think one of those bags would not be made correctly? At least I picked up another bottle of Sidral Mundet-that soda tastes fine, BTW.

When I return next Monday, I know of a few activities I'll be doing, including finally seeing Toy Story 4.